Hold Congress Accountable

Knowledge is power. It makes sure people understand what is happening to their country, and how they can make a difference. FreedomWorks University will give you the tools to understand economics, the workings of government, the history of the American legal system, and the most important debates facing our nation today. Enroll in FreedomWorks University today!

Search FreedomWorks

Resources

Blog

ObamaCare: It's the Law, But for How Long?

Back in May, our Divider in Chief trolled the critics of his disastrous "Affordable" Care Act. "It's. The. Law." the official White House Twitter account stated, along with a photo of Obama's signature on the legislative train wreck.

Since then, "it's the law" has been a favorite Democratic talking point on why Obamacare is somehow impossible to repeal. The President doubled down on this novel theory in his comments Monday:

So let me be clear about this. An important part of the Affordable Care Act takes effect tomorrow, no matter what Congress decides to do today. The Affordable Care Act is moving forward. That funding is already in place. You can't shut it down. This is a law that passed both houses of Congress, a law that bears my signature, a law that the Supreme Court upheld as constitutional, a law that voters chose not to repeal last November...

Unfortunately for the American Left, the fact that Obamacare is currently law has little bearing on whether all of it will continue to be. American history is filled with examples of laws that have been changed, overridden and repealed.

And as long as we’re “being clear,” those of us on the right know that Obamacare is the law of the land, which is why we’re working so hard to change that fact. The wildly unpopular legislation will impose a nightmare of costs, complications, regulations and pain to a broad spectrum of Americans. Doctors hate it, insurance companies avoid it, medical manufacturers are laying off employees, unions are screaming about it, and average citizens have thrown up their hands in despair.

Smug Democrats who mock these concerned Americans are ignoring countless other laws which have gone the way of eight-track tapes, rotary-dial phones and Hypercolor shirts.

The Defense of Marriage Act was far more popular than Obamacare and it, too, was the law. The Supreme Court struck down a key part of the legislation to cheers from many of the same Democrats scolding the GOP today. In the 1990s, bipartisan majorities in Congress reformed it’s-the-law welfare programs to require work and add accountability. Prohibition was overturned despite it being backed by a Constitutional Amendment.

And let’s not forget that the federal debt limit itself is the law of the land. Of course that doesn’t stop spendthrift politicians from trying to overturn it year after year after year.

Breaking with the Trump administration, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ecently announced that he intends to protect the health insurance company subsidies that had previously been a part of ObamaCare. This is all in line with the Senate Majority Leader’s desire to stabilize the market which he believes is “collapsing” (in large part thanks to ObamaCare). Though reform in this field is absolutely necessary, doling out handouts to well connect insurance companies who helped write the bill are only going to help prevent necessary reform and continue a crony mindset in Washington that needs to go the way of the dinosaur.

Without any significant legislative victories and a frustrated base, Senate Republican leadership and most rank-and-file members of the Republican conference need to take a good, long look in the mirror and ask themselves this question: "What are we doing here?"

Reports continue to come in about the results of implementing ObamaCare. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report on the effectuated enrollment, or in other words selected a plan for the first two months of the year and paid their first month’s premium of ObamaCare. The results were admittedly rather surprising as they did not meet the expectations of where the program was supposed to be at this point.

America’s welfare system is not working. The War on Poverty has failed miserably , and few in Congress have even broached the topic of serious welfare reforms. Members of the House Freedom Caucus have led the way in the this Congress, but, aside from their efforts at real conservative reform, there is little traction for those seeking to make welfare sustainable. Luckily for Americans, Congress doesn’t control their fate, they do.

During his bid for reelection in 2012, then-President Obama tried to defend ObamaCare in a campaign speech, telling his supporters, “[Y]our premiums will go down.” It has been about five years since he said that and they have gone significantly differently than the President intended. Evidence has actually found that the reverse happened and that premium prices went up.